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The LED Lighting Revolution
If you have picked up any electronics magazines recently, you have probably heard about LEDs; yet chances are, you probably don’t realize why they are so special. The truth is that these tiny light bulbs are helping to improve watches, remote controls, televisions, and a host of other projects. Diodes are components that enable energy to flow in one direction, while simultaneously blocking the current from the opposite direction. This is similar to how a valve works on a faucet. If electronic manufacturers require currents to flow in several directions, then multiple diodes will be included in the circuit design. With LEDs, every time a current passes through them, a light is emitted. LED is short for light-emitting diode. Although they have only recently waves in the past decade or so, early models have been around since 1962. There are several benefits that LEDs offer when compared to incandescent or fluorescent lighting. For starters, they have extremely long-life spans in the range of l00,000 hours even in the toughest conditions. They also require far less energy than power sources, which can save users money over the long run. Since LEDs don’t contain moving parts like other bulbs, they can withstand heavy impacts without getting damaged. Finally, they don’t require any _warm-up time_ so they instantly light up when switched on. The only drawback is that they are still a more expensive to purchase at the moment. LEDs were first used on digital clocks, but they have come a long way since then. They have certainly done a lot to improve TV technology. LED TVs have been a hit because they can be built extremely thin, yet also offer power-saving benefits. LED TVs also provide a wider range of colour, which allows for more lifelike and vivid images. In the future, organic LEDs, or OLEDs, will bring additional benefits for viewers. OLEDs are even more flexible than LEDs, so manufacturers will be able to create bent display screens and lights. Therefore, you will be able to roll up your living room TV set and pack it in your suitcase. In other words, LED and OLED technology will likely be lighting up your life for years to come.
3. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

We look forward to seeing you at the digital storytelling workshop. On the first day, when you enter the Albin College campus, attendants will ---135--- you to lot 43 and the Toteman Building. We will begin each day in conference room 9. Coffee, tea, snacks, and fruit ---136--- in the mornings. Lunch will be sandwiches and salads from Black Horse Restaurant. ---137---. In the afternoons, we will be working in the computer lab. We suggest that you assemble some images that you would like to use for your project. It will be ---138 for you to have them saved on a digital storage device beforehand. If you have any questions, please e-mail us.

137....................

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Exobiology is the study of life that originates from outside of Earth. As yet, of course, no such life forms have been found. Exobiologists, however, have done important work in the theoretical study of where life is most likely to evolve, and what those extrateưestrial life forms might be like. What sorts of planets are most likely to develop life? Most scientists agree that a habitable planet must be terrestrial, or rock-based, with liquid surface water and biogeochemical cycles that somewhat resemble Earth’s. Water is an important solvent involved in many biological processes. Biogeochemical cycles are the continuous movement and transformation of materials in the environment. These cycles include the circulation of elements and nutrients upon which life and the Earth’s climate depend. Since (as far as we know) all life is carbon-based, a stable carbon cycle is especially important. The habitable zone is the region around a star in which planets can develop life. Assuming the need for liquid surface water, it follows that most stars around the size of our sun will be able to sustain habitable zones for billions of years. Stars that are larger than the sun are much hotter and bum out more quickly; life there may not have enough time to evolve. Stars that are smaller than the sun have different problem. First of all, planets in their habitable zones will be so close to the star that they will be “tidally locked” – that is one side of the planet will always face the star in perpetual daylight with the other side in the perpetual night. Another possible obstacle to life on smaller stars is that they tend to vary in their luminosity, or brightness, due to flares and “star spots”. The variation can be large enough to have harmful effects on the ecosystem. Of course, not all stars of the right size will give rise to life; they also must have terrestrial planets with the right kind of orbits. Most solar systems have more than one planet, which influence each other’s orbits with their own gravity. Therefore, in order to have a stable system with no planets flying out into space, the orbits must be a good distance from one another. Interestingly, the amount of space needed is roughly the width of a star’s habitable zone. This means that for life to evolve, the largest possible number of life-supporting planets in any star’s habitable zone is two. Finally, not all planets meeting the above conditions will necessarily develop life. One major threat is large, frequent asteroid and comet impacts, which will wipe out life each time it tries to evolve. The case of Earth teaches that having large gas giants, such as Saturn and Jupiter,.in the outer part of the solar system can help keep a planet safe for life. Due to their strong gravitation, they tend to catch or deflect large objects before they can reach Earth.

1. What is the topic of the passage?

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
Until recently, most American entrepreneurs were men. Discrimination against women in business, the demands of caring for families, and lack of business training had kept the number of women entrepreneurs small. Now, however, businesses owned by women account for more than $40 billion in annual revenues, and this figure is likely to continue rising throughout the 1990s. As Carolyn Doppelt Gray, an official of the Small Business Administration, has noted, "The 1970s was the decade of women entering management, and the 1980s turned out to be the decade of the woman entrepreneur". What are some of the factors behind this trend? For one thing, as more women earn advanced degrees in business and enter the corporate world, they are finding obstacles. Women are still excluded from most executive suites. Charlotte Taylor, a management consultant, has noted, "In the 1970s, women believed if they got an MBA and worked hard they could become chairman of the board. Now they've found out that isn't going to happen, so they go out on their own." In the past, most women entrepreneurs worked in "women's" fields: cosmetics and clothing, for example. But this is changing. Consider ASK Computer Systems, a $22-million- a-year computer software business. It was founded in 1973 by Sandra Kurtzig, who was then a housewife with degrees in math and engineering. When Kurtzig founded the business, her first product was software that let weekly newspapers keep tabs on their newspaper carriers and her office was a bedroom at home, with a shoebox under the bed to hold the company's cash. After she succeeded with the newspaper software system, she hired several bright computer-science graduates to develop additional programs. When these were marketed and sold, ASK began to grow. It now has 200 employees, and Sandra Kurtzig owns $66.9 million of stock. Of course, many women who start their own business fail, just as men often do. They still face hurdles in the business world, especially problems in raising money, the banking and finance world is still dominated by men, and old attitudes die hard. Most businesses owned by women are still quite small. But the situation is challenge, there are likely to be many more Sandra Kurtzigs in the years ahead.
9. It can be inferred from the passage that the author that business operated by women are small because: 

When the weather is cold, it is not very much fun to (1) ______a bus. People have to stand at a bus-stop for minutes or even hours. They talk about the bus and (2) _______about the weather. Most of them feel cold. Some have to drink coffee to stay warm. Traveling by buses (3) _______ pollution, but people often would rather drive their cars. Many people are not used to the bus schedules, and they do not like to wait. On the other hand, many people have been (4) ______the bus every day for many years. They are used to it. They say the bus has been coming on time every day, and they have never been late for work. In (5) _______, they do not need a parking place in all that time. Buses are very convenient when you are used to them.

(86)_________

Read the following passage and choose the best answer (A, B, C, D):
There are three valid arguments to support the preservation of endangered species. Aesthetic justification contends that biodiversity contributes to the quality of life because many of the endangered plants and animals are particularly appreciated for their unique physical beauty. The aesthetic role of nature in all its diverse forms is reflected in the art and literature of every culture attaining symbolic status in the spiritual life of many groups. According to the proponents of the aesthetic argument, people need nature in all its diverse and beautiful forms as part of the experience of the world. Another argument that has been put forward, especially by groups in the medical and pharmacological fields, is that of ecological self-interest. By preserving all species, we retain a balance of nature that is ultimately beneficial to humankind. Recent research on global ecosystems has been cited as evidence that every species contributes important or even essential functions that may be necessary to the survival of our own species. Some advocates of the ecological argument contend that important chemical compounds derived from rare plants may contain the key to a cure for one of the diseases currently threatening human beings. If we do not protect other species, then they cannot protect us. Apart from human advantage in both the aesthetic and ecological arguments, the proponents of a moral justification contend that all species have the right to exist, a viewpoint stated in the United Nations World Charter for Nature, created in 1982. Furthermore, if humankind views itself as the stewards of all the creatures on Earth, then it is incumbent upon human beings to protect them, and to ensure the continued existence of all species. Moral justification has been extended by a movement called “deep ecology,” the members of which rank the biosphere higher than people because the continuation of life depends on this larger perspective. To carry their argument to its logical conclusion, all choices must be made for the biosphere, not for people.
6. What does the author mean by the statement:" According to the proponents of the aesthetic argument, people need nature in all its diverse and beautiful forms as part of the experience of the world"?

Read the reading below carefully, and then complete it with the best option A, B, C or D given below:
Joanne Rowling became famous almost overnight. She is the (1)_____of a highly successful series of books for young people. Joanne has dreamt of being a writer for as long as she can remember. In fact, she has been(2)_____ stories and characters ever since she was a schoolgirl. When she was still quite young, the family moved to a town called Chepstow. A family who lived (3) ____were called Potter, and she used their name for the hero of her books. She and her sister, Di, (4)_____a state school in town. At school, she was hard-­‐working and rather reserved. She was (5)_____good at English and languages. Her talent for telling stories made her popular figure in the school. During breaks between (6) _____she was often surrounded by a crowd of friends, excited to hear the (7) _____story she had written. She often included her classmates in her stories though they were not always aware of this! When she left school, Joanne succeeded in getting a place at university. After graduating, she got a(8) _____in French. Then Joanne started to work as a teacher in a school in Portugal. She married a journalist but, sadly, the couple soon (9)_____and she moved to Edinburgh. She had (10) _____and couldn’t even afford a plastic folder to send her new book to potential publishers. However, one wonderful day a publisher said “yes”. It was the greatest day of her life

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Poets have taken _____________from the natural beauty.

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I’ve borrowed some money from the bank, but I have to pay it ________ by the end of the year.

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Space Tourism
If you are like most people, you probably dream of spending your next vacation sightseeing or relaxing in a tropical spot. But pretty soon, you may have the option of blasting into space and exploring the universe. It appears that space tourism may start to experience a boom that is sure to be out of this world. Since ancient times, humans have surely dreamed about visiting space. However, it was just a fantasy until 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly into space. Yet in the years following, only a few highly-trained Soviet and American astronauts managed to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. In the mid-1980s, the US began to relax some of its restrictions. In 1986, an engineer named Charles Walker became the first non-government employee to fly into space. A year later, an American teacher named Christa McAuliffe was chosen to be the first teacher in space. Unfortunately, the Space Shuttle she was on, The Challenger, crashed during takeoff, killing everyone on board. Space tourism got an unexpected boost from the collapse of the Soviet Union. With Russia’s space programme in dire need of money, it became open to offers for space tourism. In 1990, a Japanese reporter was allowed to fly with a Russian crew into space, but the trip would cost his employer $28 million. In the late 1990s, a private company, MirCorp, started organizing trips to space for wealthy individuals. Now, many other companies are trying to do the same. Still, most people who want to become space tourists face a major barrier: the price. Early space tourists have paid dozens of millions of dollars for a seven-to- ten-day stay outside the Earth. However, there are some indications that the price will come down in the near future. Some corporations are gearing up for this with big plans to make space a more hospitable place. The luxurious hotel chain Hilton has expressed interest in opening a space hotel in the next 15 to 20 years. Meanwhile, some experts believe that flights to and from the moon could become a common occurrence within a few decades. Hopefully someday soon we will all have the chance to get to know our solar system a little bit better.
8. It can be inferred from the passage that _________.

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The Particle that Started the Big Bang
In 2013, the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Francois Englert and Peter W. Higgs for their discovery of a particle that is vital to our understanding of the universe. Although its official name is the Higgs boson, many refer to it as the God particle, because it’s considered to be the building block of the universe. Many believe that the Higgs boson may be the cause for the Big Bang explosion which led to the creation of the universe. In the 1960s, Higgs came up with the concept that particles had no mass when the universe started. In a split-second, however, it came into contact with something that gave it mass. This, Higgs theorized, was the Higgs boson. Many scientists initially laughed at the idea, but in the upcoming years, Higgs along with Englert and several of their peers continued to work on these concepts. Their ideas would eventually help lead the way to the discovery of the Higgs boson decades later. The search for the Higgs boson certainly didn’t come up cheap, as it cost nearly $10 billion to build the machinery necessary to perform the tests to find it. Yet nearly every physicist would agree that it was worth it, as the Higgs boson has already been labeled as one of the most important discoveries in particle physics. The finding is also a huge boost for physics in general because it proves that the Standard Model of Physics which researchers have been using for years is correct. The Higgs was the last remaining question mark as all of the other particles and elements had been found. Still, many ordinary people may question how such a discovery affects their lives at all. Although quantum mechanics may seem weird, it has actually led to several important technological breakthroughs over the past century. These findings have led to laser and X-ray technologies that work in the real world. There is still much to be learned with further observation of the Higgs boson in action. Scientists hope to learn more about dark matter, a strange substance that constitutes 25 percent of the mass of the universe. The research could also lead to some other technologies as well.
2. How did the God particle get its name?

Read the passage below carefully, and then choose the best answer:
Fighting Back against Bullying
It is often said that childhood is the most joyful period in a person’s life. This is supposed to be a time when children can focus on their studies and enjoy their free time with friends. However, these days more and more children are experiencing a stressful and miserable adolescence due to bullying. Bullying occurs when one student, or a group of students, uses aggression to harm another child and try to make them feel bad. This abuse can either be physical, such as pushing or beating another student, or it could take the form of mental abuse, such as taunting and teasing the student. Although it may seem harmless to some, studies show that bullying can greatly impact a child’s life and have long-lasting negative effects. People who have been bullied may experience self-esteem issues and start to lack confidence in almost everything they do. These traits can make it difficult to manage relationships and even cause them to have trouble holding down a steady job. One of the most harmful types of bullying that is on the rise is cyberbullying. The bullied student is targeted in cruel or threatening e-mails, instant messages, or hateful public posts about them. In many cases, bullies will post embarrassing pictures of the victim or spread nasty rumors about them through social media. In some tragic cases, children have even turned to suicide, feeling that they can’t deal with the humiliation. If you are being bullied by another student, you don’t have to accept it or suffer. There are some steps you can take to deal with the problem. At first, you may try to ignore the bully, as they will often lose interest in bothering you if you don’t react. If the bullying persists, however, you should tell a trusted adult as soon as possible. This could be a parent, a family friend, a teacher, a school guidance counselor, or even the school principal. Until recently, many teachers and school officials turned a blind eye to bullying, believing that the students would eventually sort it out by themselves. But this mindset has changed in recent years in light of some of the tragedies that have occurred. If for any reason you feel that your complaints are not being taken seriously, there are other groups available online who will help you deal with bullying. By dealing with bullying at an early stage, you can stop it before it gets much worse.
5. The phrase “turned a blind eye to” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ________.

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The larger the apartment, the................... the rent.

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If you’ve got a headache, why don’t you try _______an aspirin?

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Is It Safe?
Fracking is a way of getting energy from the ground. First, a special liquid is put into the ground. This liquid cracks rocks under the ground. After the rocks are cracked, oil moves through the cracks. Then it is much easier to take the oil from the ground. Fracking was started in 1947. These days, we are doing more and more fracking. That is why everyone is suddenly talking about it. A lot of people say that fracking is a good way to get energy. There is some gas that is very difficult to take from the ground. If we didn’t use fracking, we would not be able to get this oil. They say that because the world need more energy, we have to use fracking. Also, it is said that fracking creates a lot of jobs. However, many people are against fracking. They say that fracking’s “special liquid” pollutes the ground, the water, and the air. People who live near fracking areas could have health problems. Moreover, fracking is very loud. In some countries, fracking is now illegal. The first country to make fracking illegal was France. They did that in 2011. In other countries like England, fracking is legal, but there are many rules that control it. Other countries are waiting to learn more about fracking before they decide whether or not to allow it. However, fracking is very big in the United States. The US is number one fracking country in the world. People who support fracking say that it can be very safe. They say that first, we need strong laws to make sure that fracking is always done safely. Second, they say that fracking needs safe methods and good technology. It is said by many that after we develop these things, fracking will be great for the whole world. However, other people want fracking to be illegal everywhere. They say that it will never be safe. We still don’t know enough about fracking. After we learn more about it, we can decide whether it is really a safe way to get energy or not.
6. The word “big” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to __________

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions :
Do you quickly pull up any piece of information you need by looking (1)___________ on the Internet? If you do, you might be unfortunately making yourself less intelligent. Instead of having to understand basic bits of information, you have come to (2)___________ on the Internet for all of the things that you want to know. While this may be an easy solution and great convenience to some problems in everyday life, it can never be a solution when a person finds himself or herself in a situation where there is no (3)__________ to the Internet. In the past, one thing that was considered a very important part of (4)__________ either in a car or on foot was the ability to read a map. Today, people instead pull up maps on their smartphones and, using the GPS technology that the phones offer, instantly know where they are on the map. Then, they can simply (5)__________ where they want to go, and they will be instructed how to get there. They can do this in a city, and they can also often do this when they go off onto trails in forests.

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We are planning on spending the weekend in the country as long as the weather stays fine.

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My leg was hurting me. I ________ walk.

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I have been ………… many beautiful places in Viet Nam.

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The most important historical relics found in Hanoi's Temple of Literature ________ the Stelae of Doctors.

Deserts are also classified by their _____ location and dominant weather pattern.

(334)______